Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is a common human and animal opportunistic pathogen. In humans nasal carriage of S. aureus is a risk factor for various infections. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus ST398 is highly prevalent in pigs in Europe and North America. The mechanism of successful pig colonization by MRSA ST398 is poorly understood. Previously, we developed a nasal colonization model of porcine nasal mucosa explants to identify molecular traits involved in nasal MRSA colonization of pigs. Here, we report the analysis of the transcriptome of MRSA ST398 strain S0462 during colonization on the explant epithelium. Major regulated genes were encoding metabolic processes and regulation of these genes represents metabolic adaptation to nasal mucosa explants. Colonization was not accompanied by significant changes in transcripts of main virulence associated genes or known human colonization factors. Here, we document regulation of two genes which have potential influence on S. aureus colonization; cysteine extracellular proteinase (scpA) and von Willebrand factor-binding protein (vwbp, located on SaPIbov5). Colonization with isogenic-deletion strains (Δvwbp and ΔscpA) did not alter the nasal S. aureus colonization compared to wild type. Our results suggest that nasal colonization with MRSA ST398 is a complex event that is accompanied with changes in bacterial gene expression regulation and metabolic adaptation.
Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is a common human and animal opportunistic pathogen. In humans nasal carriage of S. aureus is a risk factor for various infections. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus ST398 is highly prevalent in pigs in Europe and North America. The mechanism of successful pig colonization by MRSA ST398 is poorly understood. Previously, we developed a nasal colonization model of porcine nasal mucosa explants to identify molecular traits involved in nasal MRSA colonization of pigs. Here, we report the analysis of the transcriptome of MRSA ST398 strain S0462 during colonization on the explant epithelium. Major regulated genes were encoding metabolic processes and regulation of these genes represents metabolic adaptation to nasal mucosa explants. Colonization was not accompanied by significant changes in transcripts of main virulence associated genes or known human colonization factors. Here, we document regulation of two genes which have potential influence on S. aureus colonization; cysteine extracellular proteinase (scpA) and von Willebrand factor-binding protein (vwbp, located on SaPIbov5). Colonization with isogenic-deletion strains (Î?vwbp and Î?scpA) did not alter the nasal S. aureus colonization compared to wild type. Our results suggest that nasal colonization with MRSA ST398 is a complex event that is accompanied with changes in bacterial gene expression regulation and metabolic adaptation. Number of the samples: 5 (timepoint 0 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min and 180 min) in 4 replicates. 4 control samples
